


Peter Whump Prompts + Irondad

by irondad



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, alien tech, i dont do angsty endings :(
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23382802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irondad/pseuds/irondad
Summary: collection of peter whump one shots + irondad saving the day in all of themno angsty endings here, this is a happy ending only householdpoor peter :(irondad ALWAYS :)
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	1. Stabbed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter foils what he thinks is a regular ol' arms deal and gets in a bit of a conundrum. Tony swoops in to save him of course.

#1: Stabbed.

It’s 2 a.m. and Peter should be sleeping in his squeaky bed in the small two-bedroom apartment that he and his aunt share. Instead, he's in an abandoned warehouse where he has just incapacitated 12 armed men. It should be a victorious moment and he shouldn't be on the ground bleeding out from a stab wound, unable to move. Peter thinks that sometimes things just don’t work out the way they should.

“H-Hey Karen could you not uh...” Peter trails off, his voice coming out shaky as he tries to catch his breath. He’s laying in a pool of his own blood. “Peter? would you like me to cancel the distress signal to the Stark Industries Medical Facility?” He heard Karen’s voice reply. Peter knows Karen is somewhat like a computer on steroids but he has always considered her as one of his best friends and in sticky situations like this one she always brings the 15 year old comfort.

“Y-Yeah, uh can you just… C-Can you just call Mr. Stark instead?” His limbs start to feel numb as the blood loss catches up to him. His eyelids start to feel heavy and his body should feel like it’s been hit by a train and dragged across the country. It doesn’t though, the adrenaline still coursing through his veins as he lays bruised and bloody in ruins of the aftermath of the fight make it hard to feel any pain at all. He doesn't wanna admit it but he feels like he’s going to die. He doesn’t want the last people he sees to be random doctors. He’s scared and the only person he wants to see right now is his snarky sarcastic mentor-turned father figure. He wants to call May too but he doesn’t want his aunt to see him bloody and on the brink of death.

“Alright Peter, patching you through.” Karen replies, Peter might be imagining it but her voice sounds more concerned than usual. “No, it’s alright Karen you can just wait for him to pick up.” He coughs back to her even as he lays fading in and out of consciousness; he still doesn’t have the heart to be a potential bother to his mentor.

“I am programmed to force emergency calls through, Peter.” Karen says firmly. Peter groans inwardly, he had already told his mentor that he would lay low and just be your Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman. To be fair, he didn’t go against his word; it's just that most Neighbourhood Spiderman jobs don’t usually end with him on death’s doorstep. Peter knows Tony cares about him like a father would his son and he doesn’t want to give him a heart attack.

“I just...I don’t really wanna freak him out or anything you know?” Peter mumbles to Karen. Instead of her voice answering he hears a different voice. “Freak me out? Why would I be freaked out? What's going on kid?” It’s a voice that Peter would recognise in a millisecond. Tony’s voice feels like the light at the end of the tunnel to Peter. 

“It's nothing Mr. Stark, honestly I’m just in a bit of a conundrum is all.” Peter lies straight through his teeth. He hears the metal clanking against itself to form a suit around Tony and the blast of a pair of thrusters signalling that Tony was already on the way. Peter felt a weight lift off of his shoulders at the thought of seeing Tony one last time.

“Peter has a severe concussion, multiple contusions, multiple broken bones and a large laceration in his abdominal area, which does not seem to be healing. He is losing blood rapidly.” Karen tells Tony. Peter can't help but feel a little betrayed by his AI even though he knew this wasn't something he should really lie about. “Traitor.” Peter mumbles under his breath.

“Conundrum? Kid, you're spending way to much time with Handy Manny, God of Can We Fix It. I'm already on my way, F.R.I.D.A.Y. give me his vitals and keep them on screen.” Tony’s voice rang through the speakers in his suit once again. The emotion in Tony’s voice to some would be hard to detect but to Peter it’s clear as day. He wants to tell Tony not to worry about him, that he was gonna be fine but it isn’t really in Peter’s character to lie. “Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to-” 

“It's alright kid I’ll be there in eight minutes which you can use to tell me what the fuck you got into. What the hell happened to just being a Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman?” Tony cuts him midway through his apology through the comm, his voice hinting at suspicion of Peter going against his word.

“I-I was b-being a Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman! But um...I kinda got into this fight-” Peter was quick to defend himself, not wanting Tony to think that he would go against what he promised said mentor. “Yeah, no shit kid.” Tony scoffs back at him without any real bite.

“I swear I thought it was just a regular arms deal Mr. Stark! Turns out someone’s been dealing out alien tech. Took a bunch of them down. I thought I had them all but there was this guy with a funny moustache that came out of nowhere and he had this like, green lightsaber thing and he got me Mr Stark, he got me good. Called the police already but the one guy got away. He got away. I’m sorry about tha-.” Peter sputters quickly, trying to leave out the more gruesome parts because he figures that he doesn’t wanna worry Tony more than he has already.

“Jesus kid, you don’t have to apologise for that. You did great Pete, I’m proud of you. F.R.I.D.A.Y., tell Nat to find and kill the guy with the funny mustache. I want the alien tech dealt with too.” He hears Tony say, and he feels his eyes prickle with tears. Peter’s life had been not without its setbacks and he just feels so lucky to have the people that he has in his life. The thought of dying isn’t what pushes him over the edge. It’s the thought of leaving the people he loves that does.

“Mr. Stark I’m so sleepy. Wanna sleep.” Peter says, closing his eyes. They just wanted to rest so badly. The blood in his veins feel like lead. “Nope, no way kid. That’s where I stop you. Don’t go to sleep on me, Peter. Just hang in there I’ll be there in six minutes you gotta hold on.” His mentor argues back.

“I can’t help it Mr. Stark, my eyelids are closing by themselves.” He mumbles to Tony, wanting to stay awake but just not having any will left to fight it off. “You can fight it kid, you’re Spiderman. More importantly you’re Peter Parker.” Worry bleeds into Tony's words and the emotion in his tone is palpable.

“Hah, what's with the ‘more importantly’? I think you should’ve just stopped at the Spiderman thing.” Peter manages a small smile at the words of his hero, though he thinks its almost comical that Tony thinks Peter Parker is stronger than Spiderman.Peter is almost inclined to think that it was his imagination that made him hear Tony's next words. “No Pete, Peter Parker is the strongest person I know and not just cause he can stop a bus with his bare hands, he’s got a heart bigger than anyone else in the universe.” 

“Well, Peter Parker hates to disappoint you Mr. Stark but he's losing the battle to his very heavy eyelids.” Peter mumbles into the comm. Black dots flood Peter's vision and it's an uphill battle just to barely keep his eyes open.

“He’s not going to lose. you’re not going to lose Peter. F.R.I.D.A.Y., get me there NOW.” Tony’s voice says impatiently, the panic in his words isn't as reassuring to Peter as he would like. The panic in his tone had been rapidly increasing and Peter thinks that if he's gonna live, Tony would surely kill him. The thought alone is enough to pull the corners of his mouth upward. If he meets God any time soon, Peter thinks he'd ought to remember to thank him for giving him a third chance at a father.

“Boss, you’re already on max. The suit will suffer major repercussions if-” Peter hears F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice trying to explain. Tony cuts her off with a growl, “DO IT F.R.I.D.A.Y.!”

“Thrusters and are at 150% boss, they’re gonna burn out with ten minutes of continual usage. Estimated time of arrival to Peter Parker’s location, one minute.” He hears Tony’s AI say but he doesn’t process any of it, he can’t keep a single train of thought and it must be his blood supply depleting. “I’m not gonna need ten minutes F.R.I.D.A.Y. ‘cause you’re gonna get me to Pete and back in less than that. Peter, you hear that buddy? I’m almost there, you gotta stay awake for me.”

“W...nna see y..u M... Sta..rk... I don.. wann..a die..” Peter can barely get any words out and its been a bit since he gave in and closed his eyes.

“You’re not gonna die Pete. Nobody’s dying tonight.” Tony says. Peter’s not sure if Tony was trying to convince him or himself that and it clearly isn’t working.

“Te..ll May I lo..ve h..er.” Peter says, trying to will his voice not to crack at the thought of leaving his aunt behind. May doesn’t deserve this, she deserves everything good in the world but as it seems, life just isn’t fair. Peter thinks he hears the sound of the Ironman suit’s thrusters but at this point, he's so lightheaded that he’s not sure of anything anymore.

“Peter I’m not telling Auntie Hottie anything you’re gonna tell her yourself bud.” Tony says as Peter feels a rush of wind and the undeniable comforting sound of the suit enter the warehouse. The dimly lit warehouse is a total mess, Peter’s webs on the walls and ceiling and rubble of broken concrete damage caused by the fight. In the middle, in a horrific red puddle lies the Spiderling himself.

Tony rushes up to Peter’s side and pulls the mask off of and sees Peter's bruised and bloodied face. All he wants to do is turn back time and make it so that the kid never had to face these assholes. Tony can feel his heart breaking at the sight of the tears in Peter’s eyes. “I’m here. I’m right here, stay with me bud.”

“I… lo..ve you Mr. St..ark, tha..nks f...or com..ing” Peter says with a small but genuine smile directed towards the third chance father figure that life had somehow given him. 

“You know I love you too Pete. Of course I'd come to get you but this isn't a last words moment because there is no way you’re dying today Peter.” Tony puts his hands under Peter's legs and the other on his back and picks him up as gently as humanly possible. Peter fits his masked face in the crook of the neck of the metal suit. It’s cold and hard but Peter thinks nothing has ever felt more comforting. Tony looks down at his little spider’s scuffed up face before his face plate comes down.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., the tower. As fast as you can get me there. Scan Peter and send the scans to Bruce and tell him to ready the medbay, I want all hands on deck. Just so you know Pete, I’m turning the baby monitor protocol back on.”

“B...t I c...m...ple...ted th… tra..ning… whe...ls pro...t..col” Peter jokes putting on as much of a lopsided smile as he could manage as he struggled to get his words out. Peter can’t see it but his mentor had a small fond smile on his face as he scrunched his nose and said, “Yeah, it’s not up for discussion bud”

-

The trip back to the tower was brutal for Tony, his little usually talkative protege had stopped responding halfway back. Tony had kept his eyes on Peter the entire time, feeling like his arc reactor would spontaneously combust in response how fast his heart was beating. When he got to the tower, Bruce was already waiting for him, saying that the medbay and all the staff was ready for Peter. 

That was 6 hours ago. Peters has been in surgery ever since. He had called May immediately after he handed Peter over to the medics. When she arrived, she had given him a tight hug for getting her nephew to the medics in time to give him a fighting albeit slim chance to live. She had fallen asleep about an hour ago, exhausted from crying in the room with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Tony had been pacing in the waiting room for what felt like an eternity before he finally saw Bruce walking towards him. 

“Mrs. Parker.” Tony called her awake gently with a pat on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open, dazed and confused for a while before the realisation of where she was hit her like a freight train. She saw Bruce and immediately ran towards him, Tony following suit.

“Sorry for the wait. All the injuries other than the stab wound were minor and didn’t take too much effort to patch up. The stab wound however, wasn’t healing at all. We found foreign toxins that I had never seen before, I figured whatever they stabbed him with had a concoction of chemicals that stopped Peter’s healing ability from repairing the wound. We had to keep him stable while we were figuring out what was going on so we kept him on the table while testing for a cure. He was losing blood so fast, we had to pump 45 units into him. It took awhile but we foun-” Bruce rambles on about what they had been doing to Peter and it comes to Tony’s attention that he literally doesn’t give a shit about anything Bruce is saying and Tony just gets impatient. “GODDAMNIT BRUCE IS THE KID ALIVE OR NOT?”

Instead of feeling offended at Tony’s outburst, Bruce feels a burst of warmth and fondness. Tony being a dad was a foreign concept to Bruce but he thinks that it rather suits him. Bruce gives him a small smile, “He’s gonna be alright Tony.”

For the first time in six hours, Tony feels like he can breathe again.


	2. Bloody Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter couldn't save someone and Tony shows him that for the one person he can't save, there are a hundred that he can.

#2: Bloody Hands

“Peter you seem to be in extreme emotional distress, I am required to contact Mr. Stark as per ‘The Baby is Crying’ protocol. Calling Tony Stark.” Karen's voice rings through the speakers in his suit, and it sends Peter into a panic. He doesn't want his mentor to see him so emotional and weak but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t need it right now. Peter's vision is blurred with tears and he feels like he’s back in the alley hovering over Ben’s dead body. He wants to run away but he can't move, he’s stuck crouching over himself on the edge of a random Queens building rooftop. He's Spiderman but right now, he feels like a helpless little kid.

“Kid, what's going on? I thought you were out patrolling.” Peter hears Tony’s rough and unused voice, clearly just woken up from a midday nap. Instead of the immediate comfort that the voice usually brings him, he feels pathetically confronted. Peter’s breathing goes ragged and he feels himself go into a full panic attack. Peter is immediately suffocated and wants nothing more but to be swallowed by the ground whole. He hears Tony’s voice another time before he pulls the mask off, “Pete, I’m coming to get you alright? Just stay where you are and breat-”

He can’t take it, there’s too many thoughts running through his head and his senses are going haywire, he can hear every single footstep, every single conversation in a ten block radius. The lights of the city are making it hard to focus. He brings his hands up to cover his eyes and all he sees is his hands stained with blood. Another glaring reminder that he didn’t make it in time. Someone died because he didn’t make it in time. And Peter cries desperately, how could he have let it get to that point? He was supposed to protect the city of Queens, he’s supposed to be a hero.

Karen had informed him of an ongoing armed bank robbery-hostage situation and he immediately put himself into high gear and got to the scene as fast as he could. It was on the smaller scale of the things he had dealt with before, about six armed men and they had their eyes on the money in the bank vault. He had knocked them all out easily enough. As he was escorting the hostages out to the street, his spider sense went off. He whipped his head back and saw that a masked man had awoken from where he laid knocked out. The thief had a gun pointed at a heavily pregnant woman. Peter was quick to shoot his web at the offender’s hand but the thief was even quicker, a shot rang through the air like a sole clap of thunder and the woman fell to the ground. Peter ran to her and his eyes widened, her white dress had a hole in the chest and the red spot around it grew. He put his hands to the wound and pressed down on it but all she said was, “Please save my baby.”

Peter had been doing this enough to know that an ambulance could only do so much for someone, what this woman needed was a hospital. He picked her limp body gently, supporting her bump as best he could and he immediately swung for the hospital. He told Karen to inform the hospital that he needed an emergency team upon arrival, a perk that none other than his mentee had arranged, a priority hotline. It couldn’t have been more than a seven minute journey to the E.R. and he immediately handed her over to the team of doctors and nurses and they whisked her away.

He stayed and watched as the doctors worked in perfect sync to help the poor woman. The striking sound of the machine attached to the woman flat-lining was so loud and piercing in Peter’s ear that it was almost too much to bear. The doctor pulled out a pair of defibrillators and started rubbing them together. 

“Clear!” a doctor shouted as he pressed them to her chest, a volt of electricity shooting through her making her body jump. Despite it though, the monitor was still showing an aggressively flat line. The doctor paused before telling the nurses he was going for another round. Her lifeless body bounced as another wave of electricity flowed through her. Peter couldn’t take the sight anymore. He stood there helpless, slowly walking backwards as he heard the doctor say, “We lost her.”

Peter ran away as fast as he could, running out of the hospital and swinging as far away from it as he could manage. His eyes burning and the lump at the back of his throat growing. Peter can’t tell how much time has passed since then and all he knows that he’s having a full blown panic attack. The image of the woman’s life leaving her body and the blood that stained her white dress. She shouldn’t have died, I was supposed to save her. He sat at the edge of the building crying into his forearms for what felt like forever before hearing the unmistakable sound of Tony’s thrusters. Peter didn’t have to look up to know that Mr. Stark was right behind him, Peter heard the faceplate of the metal suit lift up and the sound of metal clanking against itself told Peter that Tony was opening up the rest of the suit.

“Hey Pete, you alright there bud?” Tony said softly, stepping out of the Ironman suit. Peter doesn’t answer, opting instead to silence his ragged cries. It isn't as effective as he would have hoped since his body was still shaking violently. Peter flinches in shock when Tony puts his hand on his shoulder, pulling the 15 year old towards him. Peter gives in, slumping into Tony’s chest, the events of today draining all his energy. “Come here Pete, you’re fine. It’s gonna be okay, kid.”

“M-Mr. Stark, I- couldn- I didn’t-it-” Peter says shakily into Tony’s chest crying into the older man’s shirt. Tony has his hands caressing the back of Peter’s head as he sobbed uncontrollably. Peter’s mentor shushed him telling him, “Shh Pete. It's ok bud. You don't have to explain. Just breathe. Alright kid?”

The young boy cried himself to sleep in Tony’s arms, the older man couldn't bear to watch him explain himself when he was in so much distress. He wants to know what had happened but he knows Peter can’t tell him, not in his current state. When the boy finally went limp in slumber, Tony gently set him down against the half wall of the building's rooftop, he stepped into his suit and had it close around him. He picked Peter back up and told his AI, “F.R.I.D.A.Y., bring us home. Slowly, don't wake peter up.”

Tony set Peter on the couch to get out of his metal suit before picking him back up again and bringing him to the spider’s room. Tony sets him down on the bed and presses on the spider in the middle of the boy’s suit. The red and blue suit quickly loosened on the boy’s figure and Tony slipped it off of his body. He tucks Peter in and frowns deeply at the tear stains that had dried on his kid’s face. He leaves the room and goes down to his workshop, bringing the spidersuit with him. He sat the suit down on the workbench and pulled up a chair, sighing before saying, “F.R.I.D.A.Y., pull up Peter's feed from today, let’s watch a movie.”

-

It’s been about a week since the bank robbery and Peter had to take a break from being Spiderman. He couldn’t step into the suit without seeing the woman’s lifeless face. In the week that had passed, all of the Avengers had noticed something wrong with the usually bubbly boy. He refused to talk to anyone and he only came in to help Tony fiddle with his tech. He lied to Tony about being too busy to patrol because he couldn’t bring himself to tell Tony that he was too weak emotionally to handle what came with the job. Though Peter knows Tony knows he's lying and he just didn't want to push the topic. Tony had warned the rest of the crew not to push the boy as seeing him cry his heart out last week had seriously struck a chord within Tony.

Peter was staring at the upperbunk of his bed in the two-bedroom apartment that he and May shared in downtown Queens when his phone dings the special ringtone that he set for Tony. He wasted no time grabbing the phone from his nightstand and opening the message. It was a short text with a video attached.

The text read, _‘Good job Spiderman.’_

Peter played the video and his heart sank when he saw the image of the bank that he deliberately takes the long way to school and back to avoid. A news reporter explains what had gone down last week and the frame cuts to a man in his late 20’s. He appeared on screen with a bouquet of flowers. He spoke into the mic that was held up to his mouth saying, “My name is Leo Foster. My wife was shot by an armed robber here about a week ago. Spiderman foiled their plans, thanks to him nobody else was hurt.”

The man looked back at the bank sadly then turned back to the camera to say, “My wife Janice didn't make it and I’m here to lay flowers for her. Spiderman took it upon himself to take her to the hospital personally and I will always be grateful to him.”

A sad yet grateful smile appeared on the man’s face. There are unshed tears in his eyes as he says, “My wife was eight months pregnant and thanks to Spiderman, our baby was saved. She's in an incubator but little Janey was born with all ten toes and fingers. She’s healthy and fighting just like the hero that saved her. Thank you Spiderman, I will never be able to repay you.”

Peter closes the video crying, but this time he felt lighter than he had the entire week. His phone dinged again. Another text from his mentor. This time it read, _'Hopefully your schedule will clear soon. Queens needs you spiderling. They need you out there Pete.'_

Peter smiled, his eyes filled with happy tears as he replied, _'It’s Spiderman, you know that Mr. Stark :) and don’t worry I think I might just be able to clear my schedule._

 _'Proud of you, kid.'_ came the reply and for the first night in a week, Peter falls asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey :>
> 
> feel kinda bad for peter :(
> 
> its highkey missing irondad hours...
> 
> anyway pls comment if there are things that you think could be improved with the writing, storyline, etc or if there are things that you think i did well and whatnot id be v grateful :)
> 
> -julia


	3. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May died a month ago and Peter's nightmares just keep getting worse. Tony tells Peter not to worry because he's gonna take care of everything.

They’re spending the afternoon in Tony’s workshop, Peter had been tinkering with his web-shooters when he spaced out. Peter isn’t sure how much time has passed since his eyes had glazed over and he had started staring into the long-distance, but all he knows is that not being able to sleep is biting him in the ass. He gets pulled back into reality by Tony’s fingers snapping in front of his face. The first thing Peter sees after regaining focus is Mr. Stark’s concerned face, “Hey Pete, what’s up kid? You look like a zombie.”

Peter’s eyebrows furrow like he can’t seem to get a grip on what Tony is asking him. The truth is that Peter can’t close his eyes without having a nightmare and instead of telling his mentor, like he knows he probably should; he deflects like usual, “W-What? Oh, it’s nothing Mr. Stark.”

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past 5 minutes. You’ve been spacey as fuck lately. What’s going on? Talk to me, Pete.” His mentor says with an obvious accusatory tone, being suspicious of the teen has become routine to him since Peter has made it clear, more than once, that he likes to keep things from the older man when the latter has told him numerous times that taking care of Peter has been added to his everyday responsibilities.

“Of course, Mr. Stark. I didn’t really sleep last night, I had some revising to do.” Peter lies, straight through his teeth. He doesn’t like keeping secrets from Tony, it’s just that Peter doesn’t want to be a bother to the man who’s gone out of his way for the boy countless times. Tony Stark is Peter Parker’s father figure and Peter doesn’t want to do anything to sabotage that relationship. Peter knows it’s an irrational fear but having lost two father figures before, he can’t seem to bring himself past it.

Tony makes a face and Peter catches it but just as quick as it came on, it disappeared. Peter knows what it meant, they’ve been in situations like these many times before. He knows that Tony wants him to come to approach him without needing to be assured a million times that he will never be seen as a bother. Tony wants Peter to learn this, even if it means delayed gratification. So in the meantime, Tony deflects; turning to his protege with a playful smirk saying, “Hope you’re not thinking of asking me for help with school, I was a really bad student.”

“Yeah right, Mr. Stark. I know you topped all your classes.” Peter rolled his eyes with a smile, playing along. Tony wanted to address the elephant in the room, that much was obvious but Peter isn’t going to let him. Tony shot the boy a warm fond smile and winked at him saying, “I said I was a bad student, not that I had bad grades.”

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, Peter thinking that Mr. Stark always knows how to cheer him up. He starts to work again, he’s slouched over a workbench trying to solve a chemistry problem to improve the tensility of his webs when he sees black dots in his vision. It isn't long before he's losing control of his body and falling face-first onto the surface of the table. He expects to plough his forehead straight onto the table and for it to leave a red mark in the middle of his forehead but that doesn't happen. What does happen is there’s a large calloused hand on his forehead, breaking his fall. Peter hears a sigh and the hand pushes his head upwards and then moves to his shoulders to steady him. He looks up to be faced with Tony who had clearly been keeping his eyes on him the entire time.

Tony’s face is somewhat calculated, a mix of concern and desperation as he says, “How about you go head up to the penthouse? Go and get some sleep.”

“What? No, I’m fine! I can still work Mr. Stark!” Peter is quick to defend, not wanting to be the kid who got sent away by his disappointed mentor. There’s clear panic on the boy’s face and Tony tries to keep it straight with him but injecting a bit of humour into the situation in pure Tony fashion, “Listen, kid, you might say that but you look like you’re one step from keeling over and passing out. We both know how much you like to go against my direct orders but just trust me this once okay?”

Peter winced, though it had been just a joke to diffuse the tenseness of the situation, Peter thinks about how many times he’s disappointed Tony by defying him. Peter nods at Tony and turns on his heels to make his way up to the penthouse.

Peter has his own room in the penthouse with a nice big balcony and the best view of New York. The bed is huge and welcoming and Peter just wishes that he can make use of the clearly extravagantly priced piece of furniture more. The thing is that he can’t, Peter refuses to go to sleep every time his exhausted head hits the pillow, he can’t stop seeing the faces of the people that Spiderman, that Peter Parker couldn’t save. The balcony had brought him more comfort in the night than his bed did as Peter would sit there in silence watching the night go by.

Peter’s nightmares had started when Ben died. Since becoming Spiderman, they’ve only been getting worse over time. May died of an aneurysm last month and he’s been in Tony’s care ever since. They’ve gotten so bad that Peter has decided to opt-out of sleep entirely. Peter likes to think that he has it under control, he sleeps in the car on the way to the tower, in class when he finishes his work earlier than everyone else and he gets power naps here and there but he hasn't had a proper full nights sleep in probably a month and it’s clear to see that it’s been catching up to him. Peter thinks he wants to try to get some sleep.

Peter’s hasn’t come to terms with May’s death yet and he’s not sure when he can accept the fact that she isn’t coming back. It’s been hard but Tony has done everything to make sure that Peter’s as comfortable as he can be 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you get the curtains, please? Lock the door too and don’t tell Mr. Stark if I’m having a nightmare.” Peter mumbles into his pillow, the temptation of sleep being too hard to resist anymore. As soon as he closes his eyes, darkness welcomes him instantaneously. 

-

Peter jolts awake in a cold sweat, heart beating out of his chest, the image of the nameless bloodied civilian calling out to him begging him to save his life that he saw in his dream, lingering in the back of his mind. He’s trying to catch his breath and his limbs are shaking. The tiny sliver of light between the curtains tells him that it’s starting to get dark but it isn’t entirely night time either. The clock on his bedside table reads 6:30 pm meaning he’d been asleep for 3 hours, which made Peter happy since he hasn't slept more than 30 minutes in a week. 

He sleepily makes his way to the kitchen to drink some water when he sees Tony in the living room. Tony has his arms crossed accusingly and on his face is a pointed look aimed at the young boy. “Alright yeah, we’re talking about this. Come on, out with it Peter.”

Peter’s eyebrows pinch in the middle as he starts to edge on the defensive, unwilling to tell his mentor about the nightmares that he has to deal with. “W-What are you talking about Mr. Stark?”

“Gigs up kid, F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me everything. I know you haven't been sleeping.” Tony says sighing. Shooting Peter a concerned look when he looks at Tony like a deer caught in headlights, before continuing, “I care about you kid. I didn’t wanna push it since I know you’ve been having it rough since May passed but you gotta take care of yourself, Peter. You know May would hate seeing you like this.”

Peter winces when Tony mentions May. He hasn’t quite accepted that she isn’t coming back yet. It’s a single thought of May hugging him when he was feeling down that brought an onslaught of tears to his eyes. 

Peter tries to hold back the tears but they start cascading down his face and there wasn’t much he could do. Soon his whole body was wracked with sobs, as the emotions that he had bottled up over the past month got to him. His head tilts to the ground and he squeezes his eyes shut as he tries his best to control the waterworks. He feels the warm embrace of his mentor and the calming effect that comes with it. Peter leans into the touch, his hands coming up to grip Tony’s shirt. Peter barely manages to get his words out, “I-I miss her, Mr. S-Stark.”

“I know, kid. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take care of everything. Shh, just close your eyes and rest, bambino.” Peter fell asleep like that, in the arms of his mentor. And for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Peter was graced with a deep imageless slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this literally sucks ass ill probably take it down and majorly edit it I'm sorry I just rly wanted to post smth :(
> 
> Leave a kudos or a comment and as always, don't hesitate to tell me if u hate smth bc I wanna get better at this whole writing thing ! :)
> 
> \- julia


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